The oldest cheese in the world has been found, and it
puts your Trader Joe’s aged Gouda to shame.

While Gouda can be aged for five years — some cheeses for
ten — this one dates back as far as 1615 BC, which makes it older than Jesus
Christ.

Buried with ancient mummies in China, the cheese was
found on the necks and chests of Bronze Age cheese aficionados.

According to Popular Science, the cheese has essentially
been vacuum-packed for centuries in the Taklamakan Desert, where dry air, salty
earth and tightly-sealed burial conditions kept it from decaying.

And while the discovery was made in the ’30s, scientists
have only just analyzed the proteins and fats in the clumps of the
3,600-year-old food to reveal its age and to be sure that it was not butter or
milk.

Scientists say that the cheese was probably lactose-free
and was made with a mixture of bacteria and yeast. They also say that the
oldest discovered cheese might have tasted something like cottage cheese.